Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Meat Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make and coat the croquettes
In a bowl, combine the chopped meat, bread crumbs, eggs, butter, pepper, salt, and cream, then mix until well combined and form into cakes.
Dip each cake in cracker crumbs to coat.
Fry
Fry in hot oil until golden brown.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,056 recipes
Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold veal, beef, or chicken
- Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquettes.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and bind the meat so the cakes hold their shape.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help the cakes hold their shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the meat mixture.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating during frying.
The step that matters
Frying in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs excess oil and turns greasy before it browns. Oil that is hot enough sets the crumb coating quickly and browns it, while the interior heats through.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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